Eating to Live!

Calories in vs. calories out

I recently got wind of a new diet out there called the Flat Belly Diet. It was advertised by Prevention magazine on their Web site. I don’t know if it was in their magazine as I don’t get that particular publication, at least not anymore.

But someone sent me the link to the article promoted by WebMD featuring five foods that are claimed to reduce “belly fat.”

Call me a skeptic, but I’m afraid I don’t buy into any of it. Especially when you have to buy something to get the information, which in this case, is exactly what the article was leading up to. By clicking on the Internet link in the article, I was immediately transported to the Prevention Web site where I could easily buy the book, “The Flat Belly Diet.” While they were happy to reveal to me the five “magic” foods, to get the diet itself, there would be a price. I would bet that the diet included lots of whole grains, fresh fruit and vegetables, and a little oil and meat on the side.

I’ve been around the block when it comes to dieting. In fact, there are few new diets out there, just new ways to present them. You can buy any diet book on the market and all of them say the same things (look above), just in different ways. Some diet plans will have you eating only certain foods on certain days. Others will have you doing enough math and diary logging that you are spending an inordinate amount of time with your face in a journal and your fingers on a calculator. I don’t know about you, but I just don’t have that kind of time.

My bottom line is simple. Calories in versus calories out and the best way to get your nutrients is to eat nutrient rich food. That is not to say that you can’t have a chocolate chip muffin now and then. You just can’t have a half-dozen of them.

So don’t spend your hard earned money on the latest fad diet out there. Go to MyPyramid.gov, enter your statistics (which aren’t saved anywhere and you don’t have to register to see the information), and get good food for your calories.

Monday and Tuesday were extremely busy days and they set me behind on the blogs. I won’t bore you with the details, but I did manage to stay within my food program and still got lots of good food, including roasted chicken, which I brought to work for my lunch for the past two days. I continued to have my oatmeal mornings, except Tuesday, which didn’t leave enough time to cook, so I opted for cold oat cereal instead, with, of course, my morning banana and walnuts. I also made it back to the gym and hope to continue the streak.

The cat grass is shooting up from the tray of soil like fireworks and it has only been four days since I planted the seeds. I had no idea they would germinate that quickly. My cats will be playing in the “lawn” before too long, I’m sure.

I’ll be catching up soon, but in the meantime, keep your cool about your food plan and don’t stress if you have that cookie or doughnut you’ve been craving. Have it, leave the guilt at the door, and move on with your healthy food choices.